St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-29
WOMAN'S EMANCIPATION.
failure of the Agitation for Political
Privileges.
snag on Which the Woman's- Rights
Bark Struck.
Brooklyn Eagle.

spinal column of theater~going New Y ork
the group of remarkable women who are
to-day recognized as the apostles of womans
rights in this country had achieved great
ness and were laundering over the wrongs
OF the sex with a vigor and resonance that
none of their followers have ever surpassed.
Prominent in that group were Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucy
Stone. They differed intellectually as much
as they differed in personal appearance, but
they were alike in the earnestness and
singleness of heart with which they conse-
Grated themselves to the cause of woman's
emancipation.
They are all living to-day. and since the
period to which | refer have scarcely rested
from their labors yet it is within the
bounds of truth to say that the product of
Sheir efforts is altogether out of proportion
to the time and work they have put ill.," s
This is not their fault. n o better equipped
agents ever undertook reform. Mrs. STAN
ton is not only lawyer, logician. orator
and philosopher. but lady gifted in nu-
mercus other ways to effect the changes at
which she aims. Miss Anthony has one of
the most acute intellects of her age, and
brings to her work the resources of a mind
profoundly stored with the treasures of
knowledge. Lucy Stone has virtually re-
tired from the business, bnt when
she was in the arena her simple
eloquence and gentle Quaker manners
touched the hearts and enlisted the SYM
pathy OF all to whom she spoke. These
brilliant women were the particular stars in
constellation Of gifted reformers and they
and those associated with them are able to
show so little for what they have done
H. hon {op1-T SIrif Nf
the times. What the women of the latter
half of the nineteenth century have been
and still are looking for, is not political
privileges, but greater industrial opportuni-
ties. The average woman is not seeking
the ballot. but the means of Self-Support.
The age is an age of money getting and
she has caught its spirit to quite as great
an extent as men have. This ambition is
not confined to those who seek employment
simply for the means of subsistence or for
the means of elevating themselves in the
social scale. Our republican institu-
tons, liberal ways and free
dom from the restraints that veX the
circles of more conventional society. appear
to have developed not only a love for indie
pendence among the sex, but passion for.
occupations that do not belong 10 the tfadi-
tional routine of a woman's life. This was
well Illustrated by the remark of a young
lady in New York who had been literally
educated and surrounded by every comfort
that money and parental affection could give
her. Il want to earn my own living. |
want to feel that | am not dependent upon
papa for the qualification of all my tastes
and the supplying Of my necessities. 1t is
calling to me to think that every time
want to make a purchase [ must ask him
for the money to do it with Moreover, the
w
employment. Household cares and de-
mands of society cannot satisfy the ambi-
ton of an active. intelligent woman.
Her music and her French and her
crochet and her calls are not enough
TO meet the needs Of her nature. If she
feels that she has qualifications that fit her
for different career from that to which
she seems condemned she ought to have all
opportunity to use them. 1t is not indeli-
cate in her to desire to push her way in the
world. and no man whose respect is worth
having would think the less of her for Try
ing to do it.
That these sentiments find an echo in
the minds OF tens of thousands Of American
women there can be no doubt. That there
is a growing disposition to recognize the
craving which they express is equally clear.
Every year witnesses the opening of
dozen new avenues to the activity of the
sex. Men are now SO accustomed to per-
form their daily labors side by side with
women that nothing is thought of it,
While Mrs. Stanton and her fellow re-
formers have been employing all the arts of
persuasion to obtain the privilege of
the ballot the current of the real reform has
swollen FROM an insignificant stream into a
noble river. A quarter of a century ago one
of the supposed most powerful arguments
a adv of IN SrCr
was the plea that the sex would never be
admitted to the walks of industry with men
anti they obtained the elective franchise
and used it to break down the barriers
which excluded them.
| remember a speech delivered by lady
now prominent as a medical practitioner. in
which she depicted the seltishness and
tyranny of man where his own interests
We're concerned, and declared that it was
his fear of rivalry that made him reluctant
TO open the doors of employment to women.
That was nearly twenty years ago, and
since then there has been a steady accumu-
Iation of facts to show that the eloquent
Amazon OF the woman's rights forum
did the ''tyrant' very gross
injustice. 1t is true that he was troubled
at first with some ScrupleS upon the subject,
but they were not the scruples attributed to
him. He had an idea that this is a rough
and tumble world, and that his sisters and
daughters would not fare so well as some
of them supposed they would if they en-
tered it. His caution made him appear
dilatory. Festina lente seemed TO him
sound maxim in this case. He laughed at
the thought that the interests of his women
folks was not as dear to him as his own.
As matter of fact. he knew they were
identical; but his prudence suggested that
# would be wise TO go easily and that iS
the way he went One by one the
! doors were thrown open. One by one the
gates that closed the avenues of occupation
swung back. One by one the barriers
fell. If the process was slow it was also
safe and sure. There was no shock TO the
sentiment OF the community. Nobody felt
shat violence was being done to any re-
spectacle usage The defenders of musty
custom were not startled into resistance
The transition was complete almost before
Its progress had been fully suspected The
@'tyrant'' contemplated the working of his
policy with satisfaction, and his modesty
did MT prevent him from harboring the
Thought that after all he knew how to adj
judicate the great question of womans
rights better than the petticoated prophets
and sOlonS whose eloquence had so often
made his ears Jingle.
And so the plea that the ballot was nee
essay to wreSt justice from the ''tyrant'
has stuck in the Threats Of those who used
it. The agitation goes Oh, but il is not
nearly so violent and denunciatory of
man as it was when Mrs. Blackwell and
her sisters were loading their mitrailleuse
behind the lines OF battle that were drawn
quarter Of Il century ago. They take
more amiabIe view of the common enemy
of the sex. He has ceased to be monster
Ofo rl1ifr IN